AM Prep-Cyber Corner

May 14, 2018

IN THE NEWS: TENNESSEE ELECTION TAINTED BY E-TRUDERS

UNDATED (AP) — Was someone trying to mess with an election in a Tennessee county earlier this month? Sure looks that way. Investigators say they found evidence of a “malicious intrusion” into the Knox County elections website — and the source of the incursion was a computer in Ukraine. The effort was part of what officials say was an orchestrated cyberattack. The online assault is believed to have caused the site to crash just as it was reporting vote totals. County officials said no voting data was affected. But the site was down for an hour after the polls closed, causing confusion before technicians fixed the problem.

IN THE NEWS: TESLA CRASH IN UTAH PROBED

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (AP) — Police are looking into whether the latest crash of a Tesla has anything to do with the vehicle’s Autopilot feature. The Tesla Model S crashed into the rear of a fire department truck in Utah on Friday. The Tesla was moving at 60 mph — and police say it didn’t appear the vehicle’s brakes engaged before hitting the truck, which had been stopped at a red light. The crash comes as federal safety agencies investigate the performance of Tesla’s automated system, which uses cameras, radar and computers to keep speed, change lanes and automatically stop vehicles.

ON THE WEB: PRINCE MUSIC ON TIDAL

CYBERSPACE (AP) — It’s a music streaming service run by Jay-Z. But one of Tidal’s major new offerings soon will come from Prince. A new album featuring previously unreleased music from Prince’s vaults will make its debut on Tidal sometime next year. The Prince estate and Tidal announced details of the agreement Friday, two days after a Minnesota judge said it was in the best interest of the estate to end litigation and allow the deal to go forward. Jay-Z is working with the Prince estate to select songs for the new album.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Three of the main music streaming companies are trying to come up with a way to please R. Kelly fans — while not alienating those who feel the singer’s career should go away because of how he allegedly treats women. The latest to try to walk that tightrope is Apple Music. It has stopped promoting the R&B star’s music in its featured playlists and recommended tunes. But it hasn’t banned his music outright. Spotify announced last week that it did the same. And Pandora didn’t address R. Kelly’s music directly — though it did say it won’t promote certain artists who have ethical or criminal issues. Kelly has denied persistent allegations that he has a longstanding pattern of mistreating women, especially those much younger than himself.